To Board Another Train
by Dairyfiend
Summary: Thrust into the past upon making a different choice in Limbo, Harry Potter must adjust to a new body, a new timeline, as well as a young Tom Riddle. Rated M for possible later chapters. FemHarry, Tom/FemHarry, Time travel.


" _...You could always, board a train." Dumbledore looked at Harry, smiling as he gestured to a white train, waiting at the station. It was strangely comforting, and Harry felt a pull towards it, and he knew that it could all be over, and that he was free to move on, if he so wished. He edged towards it step by step as Albus looked down, before Harry turned back._

" _Professor…" He started, Dumbledore smiled at him, warmth in his eyes_

" _I think Harry, it is time you called me Albus." Harry nodded and fidgeted for the words,_

" _Prof-...Albus, I just was wondering something…." at this his friend smiled even more, his eyes giving their natural twinkle_

" _Harry if you arrived in this place and did not wonder I would find it hard to comprehend you." They chuckled, before Dumbledore gestured him to a bench nearby, "We are not pressed for time here, not am I in the position to judge anything you say." Harry nodded and together they sat down, Harry thinking on how he should phrase the question._

" _Sir, in my mind, this place, takes the experience of King's Cross." Dumbledore nodded,_

" _I theorise it as the place you finally were free of your relatives, although I have been wrong before." Dumbledore interrupted before Harry continued,_

" _And If I was to, move on. I would board that train. I was just wondering, as it's a station, shouldn't there be trains going in both directions?" At this Dumbledore's eyes twinkled once again._

" _What I believe you have done, as you tend to do, is find curiosities, quite a Hufflepuff trait. But yes, I believe there would be, in theory." The wise old man gestured to the end of the station, where the train tracks slowly vanished into white nothingness. "At a guess Harry, I would say that there would be, but I do not think it comes from the other world, nor do I know where it goes." Harry followed his gestures before Dumbledore looked back at him. They managed to keep a straight face for ten whole seconds before they both grinned and leapt up from the bench and moved quickly to the edge of the other platform, the one opposite the train. Nodding to each other they began walking down the station, accompanied by a friendly silence._

 _It was impossible to tell how far they walked or for how long, as time as it was didn't exist in this world, but all they knew was that at one point an outline on the tracks appeared, drawing ever closer until finally a train appeared. It was different from the other, has it had far less carriages, one in total, and was a light grey in appearance, which stood out in the bleached white station. Moving quickly towards it they reached the engine, to find it empty, but with an alluring quality._

" _If I didn't know any better Harry, I would say that you're supposed to drive it." Dumbledore said in mirth, Harry nodded and moved into it, he believed he had made his choice. However just before he push forward on a lever to start it, Dumbledore held up a hand._

" _A piece of advice from an old man Harry" he smiled, "I can assume this returns you to our world, but it you wanted you could have left at any time. Thus I can only assume that this train, while it takes you back, will take you back differently, perhaps further in time, or maybe backwards or sideways. But there must be a reason for it's existence, remember that." Harry grinned at his old wise mentor who grinned back._

" _And now Albus, it is time for me to chase the flighty temptress, adventure." he quoted the Headmaster's words back at him._

" _May you find her in warm spirits Harry, and seek the path that she has laid for you." with that Albus Dumbledore pulled back and waved._

" _You could-" Harry started but the old man shook his head smiling_

" _No my boy, I believe it is time for me to see my sister again, I shall give my regards to your parents, bare thee well."_

" _Goodbye sir" Harry said, and with a great push, the lever moved forward, and the train gracefully began moving. For what would seem the last time, Green eyes met blue, and the two men waved, before their paths diverged and Harry's train rushed forward, into the light and beyond. A gentle breeze seemed to pass through Harry, and the whiteness enveloped him, sending him forth into the unknown._

There could be no doubt in Harry's mind that 'coming back to life' was one of the most, if not _the_ most painful and unpleasant experiences he had ever had to endure. It felt like cold fire was searing through his lungs, and that he was drowning in air, all this while he was being compressed, stretched and squeezed in a million directions at once. Although It was with a anticlimactic *pop* that Harry Potter found himself in the world of the living once again. Stumbling forward as his eyes adjusted to some dim light, he soon found himself in a collision with a solid brick wall, naturally, he came out second best.

"Oof" came the grunt as he fell backwards, landing on his back as he gazed up at the sky. His first clue that he was somewhere else was the fact that he had just run into a brick wall, something there was a sever lack of in the Dark Forest, the second clue was that it seemed that he wasn't in a forest at all, he was, in fact, in some alleyway. He checked his pockets. Without his wand.

"Bugger" he said out loud. Harry stared at nothing, his voice! He repeated the word just to be sure but there it was, instead of the deep (and apparently sexy according to an unknown percentage of the witch population) voice that he knew to be his in his 18th year of life, it had been replaced with a high, and somewhat squeaky voice. He sat up quickly and scrambled to his feet. There was no mistaking it when he stood up, he was also shorter than he was used to. He was no tree back at Hogwarts but he was fairly certain he could look down at a garbage bin last time he checked.  
"Alright Harry, time to figure out what the heck is going on." He stumbled forward to what he assumed was the end of the alley, passing glass windows as he went. He ignored them until he stumbled once again, and glancing around him, found himself face to face with a young girl looking directly at him in the window.

He blinked, so did she. He blinked again, so did she. He stood up straight and she did so, copying his movements. Harry was not an idiot, he was no Ravenclaw, but he could not be described as an idiot. Harry Potter was fairly sure he knew how reflections worked, and he was no stranger to magic or odd things going on. But then again, he had never been born before. Having come to terms that yes, the girl was him, he studied her….himself….in more detail. He now looked somewhat like a younger replica of his mother, ginger hair had managed to grow to just below shoulder length, and his green eyes were full. He was also wearing, to his surprise and annoyance, a dirty brown dress of some description. The longer he studied himself the more and more he could tell that if was not just the dress that was dirty, his now ginger hair was muddy, and his arms and legs were not much better. He wore no shoes which he really should have realised sooner and on his face, courtesy of the wall, was the beginning of a bruise.

"Oh hell no." he muttered before stumbling onwards. He just had to find out where he was, then he would be fine, but it was when he entered the street that he realised it was not where he was that was important, but _when._ The advanced technology he knew that muggles had come up with was nowhere to be found, and the people that were bustling to and fro in the evening were dressed in clothing he knew had long gone out of fashion. He turned to head down the street, he just needed to get answers somewhere, before he collided with a leg and for the second time that night, fell backwards onto the ground.

"Woah there little missy." Came a gruff but kind voice from above, looking up he saw the faces of two kind looking police officers, who were looking at her in amusement and a bit of concern. One reached down with a hand and she took it, allowing him to pick her up onto her feet. The other crouched down until they were face level.

"Hey there miss, are you alright." He said kindly before his partner nudged him, looking up he followed his partner's gaze to Harry's new attire, before nodding his head as if figuring something out.

"Excuse me miss, but would I know your name." Harry realised that it was probably not a good idea to proclaim that he was a wizard...witch...whatever from the future and decided to just go with it.

"Ha-...Holly, sir." She said quickly. The officer smiled and looked around.

" Holly, are your parents around miss Holly?" Harry shook his head, sending his ginger hair everywhere.

"They're dead sir." He said, managing to put some sorrow into it. The policeman nodded as if he expected it and turned to his partner, they seemed to have a discussion with their eyes before turning back to Harry.

"Holly, is it alright if you come with us? We'll take you to somewhere where you can be taken care of, is that ok?" He nodded back and the policemen gestured, "it's just down the road, we'll take you there." Again harry nodded, realising that it would help him figure out the hell he was, although judging by the policemen's clothes and accent he nailed it down to somewhere in England in the 20's or 30's. He followed them down until they arrived at a dark gate, which next to it sat the sign 'Wool's orphanage'. Harry could have sworn he heard it before but the policemen opened the gate and herded him in before he could rack his brain enough. Walking with purpose to the door they knocked, but Harry was looking at the ground when it opened, thinking. Where had he heard that before? The policemen, it seemed, where having a conversation with a woman working there, and it wasn't long before he was herded inside, away from the policemen's farewells and down a hall, it was at this point he looked up from his thoughts at the woman, and suddenly it all came to him. He was looking at the face of Mrs Cole, the matron of Wool's Orphanage, the place where Tom Marvolo Riddle grew up.  
"Bollocks." He thought.

Harry was quickly introduced to Martha, the nurse and caretaker of the younger children, who sat down with him (her? It was hard to comprehend at the moment) and asked some questions. How old are you, where were you born, when? Where just some of the questions fired. He answered with a "I don't know" for any age related questions and shrugged at where he was born. The Nurse had written stuff down on the clipboard, and talked with Mrs Cole, who was by the door. He easily got the opportunity to see a calendar nearby, which showed clearly that it was the 31st of July, 1937. He did not know whether to groan or smile, because at one end it was his birthday, but at the other he had arrived before Tom Marvolo Riddle had gone to Hogwarts. He was brought back to the world by Martha calling his taken name.

"Holly?" he nodded back, Martha was a young woman, possibly late 20's at the oldest, who had a kind smile, she was blond and slightly plump, but had an aura of happiness about her.

"Holly do you have a last name?" he nodded again

"Evans, Miss." he had decided about two minutes prior that using Potter might cause problems later, so he went with his mother's maiden name.

"Holly Evans, and I would place you at about 10 years old." Martha was now talking more to Mrs Cole than Harry, the woman in question nodding before placing her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"We'll get you set up right away dear, don't worry, you'll make friends." She led her out the door, Martha giving a smile as they went. A short walk up the hall and some stairs they stopped outside the Room 'No.26'.

"You'll be staying here Holly, I'll get you up in the morning and show you around, ok?" Harry nodded before Mrs Cole nudged her inside. It was a quant room, identical to the one that Harry remembered from the pensive. He turned and gave a smile and a "thank-you" to Mrs Cole, who smiled once more and gently closed the door, turning to the bed, Harry spotted some new clothes to change into, some white bedclothes, and changed into them before finally, the exhausted boy/girl fell onto the bed and fell asleep.


End file.
